Maximum Pressure Redux: The Escalating US-Venezuela Confrontation & Military Options!

All right, hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends, where truth matters. I'm your host, Dr. Oualaalou, excited to be with you as always. I'm going to be talking today, uh, providing you my own analysis and an update about the escalations that is going on between the US and Venezuela, the ongoing tensions that is. So this is what I'm going to be addressing for you in this particular, uh, live stream. But first, let me say hi quickly to our wonderful community. Let me see something here quickly.

Uh, uh, okay, the—

okay, now, uh, yesterday some of you put, uh, uh, uh, some comments about someone here that is disrupting the, the, the chat. So I'm gonna just go ahead and ban the individual here. So this way, thank you for bringing this up to my attention. Uh, sometimes I can't see everything here. So, Leanne, good to see you. Truth Seeker, good to see you. Lock, good to see you. So, uh, Taiwan Steel and, uh, Farhad Razavi, good to see you. Thank you, Taiwan Steel, and thank you, Ruffles 01, for the comments. I was able to read your comment there. And Ali, good to see you. Ali Stalokin, here you are. Uh, good to see you and thank you for sending, uh, the comment regarding that individual, so I took care of it. Uh, Ayub, good to see you. Kurt Buzz, good to see you. Uh, very, very excited to have you here, guys. Uh, Nimbo Fashion, good to see you from— wow, look where Nimbo is joining us from, guys. Happy John, Côte d'Ivoire, good to see you here. So, and, uh, by the way guys, keep an eye on the chat for, you know, there are sometimes those individuals that just come into, you know, if, if, if— and I say it to whomever, whoever doesn't have anything to contribute to the conversation, please don't waste your time and disrupt our community. I will greatly appreciate it, and I'm being nice about it at this time. So I would appreciate it if you do not Just don't be here if you don't have anything to contribute. Just move on, move on, move on with life. So, all right, let me, uh, uh, get on into— I have headlines for you. And of course, uh, the one that I am— my heart goes to really to the victims of what took place in Venez— in— I'm sorry, Venezuela— in Indonesia, in, in Sumatra. I'm sure you heard about the landslides And floods engulf villages, leaving a tragic toll in Indonesia. So the death toll from the floods and the landslides that swept through Indonesia's Sumatra Island has risen now to 753. As a matter of fact, the update of this number was about 800. So with more than 500 people still missing, and this is according to the latest data from the National Disaster Management Agency. So it's heartbreaking to see what's going on in the Sumatra Islands. So our heart goes to the victims there, and I hope the Indonesian government comes to their assistance, and I'm sure they will. So, second headline I want to share with you has to do with Russia and China. Of course, you have the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Wang Yi, is in Moscow. Meeting with Lavrov. But the meeting wasn't with, uh, with the, with Lavrov per se. The meeting was with the Shoigu, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergey Shoigu. This the one that's the Prime Minister of— Foreign Minister, rather, of China Mr. Wang Yi met with. But at the same time, Mr. Wang Yi met also with Lavrov. Why is this important? Is because this, when you realize about the Russia-China alliance, which described— and I put this in quote because it's coming from the mouth of the officials in both countries— it's without limits. So I'm gonna be doing a live stream for you, given that I wrote a book about, uh, Russia and detailed in it their relationship with China I disclosed how this is going to sort of influence or impact the global trajectory in the years to come, and here we are. So, so I will be doing a live stream for you. So, and this is what Shoigu, Shoigu, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, stated, that the strategic cooperation between Russia and China has reached an unprecedented level, in quote. This is his, uh, wording for this one here. Shoigu said, you're in the consultation with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Wang Yi, who also met with Sergey Lavrov. So, all right, let's get into our analysis here. Uh, let me just check quickly the chat box here, uh, see, uh, if there is any comment from you, uh, because this is— from now on, I'm going to keep an eye on this If there is anyone disrupting the, the, the, the community here, just let me know the name and I will remove the individuals from this, because once again, I have no tolerance for this nonsense stuff. So, all right, let's talk about what's going on, about the escalation or the escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela, which is ongoing, by the way. And by the way, Mr. Trump or Donald Trump, or President Trump called President Maduro. They had a conversation. I'm going to share a clip with you as I move forward, uh, uh, uh, in response to this call, what the Venezuelan president, uh, uh, said. Suffice it to say for now is that what the Trump administration is trying to do is to renew so-called maximum, uh, pressure campaign. And this is why you're looking at the likelihood of a military confrontation. But let's not jump into this right away. So, so far, because you're gonna have to think about all the types of pressures, the psyops, whatever else, uh, the kinetic and all that, the special ops, and all this has to do before you consider the military, uh, confrontation, meaning grounds on the troops. Because if you are to think of it that way, you're gonna have to compare the potential scenarios to historical conflicts of the United States, like in Vietnam. So, and this is again when you have to understand the spectrum of these military operations that are being currently considered inside the Pentagon. So, and this is why I wanted to do the live stream for you, to provide you an update and share with you my own analysis about this particular development. So now you have to think in terms of risks and the complexities that, uh, of a potential US military intervention. So, and yes, there's already some kinetic, uh, strikes that exist in— you have covert activities, uh, covert activity— covert, rather, I'm sorry, uh, covert, uh, activities usually conducted by the CIA. But what I'm referring to here I am referring to JSOC. To those who are in the military, you know what I'm referring to here. So, uh, all this you have to understand that the US have to consider and assess the domestic and the international obstacles to such, uh, actions that it decides to go there. So the logical question, as a geopolitical analyst, I will ask is how likely is the confrontation between Venezuela and the United States to evolve moving forward, which is, to me, it's a logical question to ask. So let's start, for example, with the current escalation trajectory, where things are. And like I mentioned, the Trump administration has revived now the so-called maximum pressure campaign against Venezuela, because you all remember in August 2025 of this year You know, Trump signed a secretive directive authorizing the Pentagon to use military force against select Latin American drug cartels. So while at the same time— why, when Trump did this, at the same time doubling the bounty, uh, on Maduro. Remember when I did the video for you about the $50 million bounty that the private, uh, the, uh, the, uh, pilot for Maduro turned it down. So, and after this, after that time, which is August time frame, the United States deployed some sort of a fleet of naval warships carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines towards Venezuelan waters. All this was posturing, I'm here to tell you. Because even with that deployment, and I talked to some people in the know, that's considered only about 10%. When you have about 10% of the force, that is not equivalent to, uh, allow you to conduct an invasion or troops on the ground. 10% is nothing. So, and this is why sort of the, the Pentagon has formed what's called a new Joint Task Force. We're not talking about JSOC, it's a separate to that. So, and this was led by the Marines from Camp Lejeune to oversee this so-called anti-drug operations in Latin America, which you and I know this anti-drug stuff is nothing but a, you know, it's just a facade, it's pretext. When you consider, for example, one of the neocons and hawks, hawkish in, in the, in the Trump administration, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio when you consider his family ties to drugs. And I'm going to share a clip with you about Marco Rubio himself. So, so when you think about the immediate, uh, uh, uh, pressure points, what are we looking at? As a matter of fact, during the phone call, uh, that Donald Trump had with Maduro, he offered— meaning, uh, Donald Trump offered Maduro safe passage out of Venezuela, which by the way, the call took place on November 21st of this year. And Donald Trump told Maduro, you only have one week, which is kind of like, wait a minute, first of all, who are you to dictate to another head of state, uh, uh, uh, when to leave, not to leave, and, and, and so forth? That just doesn't make any sense. So, and, and with that, the idea that, uh, he only has one week to leave, uh, the, the country— Maduro responded in a way that, that typical for Venezuela. And I'm going to share the clip with you. And by the way, that deadline expired because it was only one week. So Trump declared that Venezuela's airspace was closed, which was, by the way, a a violation of international law. You have no right to close the airspace of a sovereign nation. I don't care who you are, unless there is a war, there is a— there's some crimes committed. Like, like for example, why the airspace over Gaza wasn't closed? You can see the double standard, right? So, and this is again, when you think about this idea of this immediate pressures. That's why the US is trying to sort of put forth in order for Maduro to leave the country. However, Maduro rejected the offer demanding full legal amnesty for himself and his family, removal of US sanctions, and an end to an International Criminal Court case against him. So, so I'm going to share clip with you, uh, and I'm gonna— I think it's— I'm gonna do the translation for you. I do happen to speak a little bit Spanish. Uh, all right, let me get to the clip here and I'll share it with you. And by the way, uh, I give credit to this clip to The Gray Zone. This was, uh, posted on my account by journalist Max Blumenthal. So, which by the way, I reached out to him to— I extended an invitation for Max to come on the channel, never received a response, but that's okay. It's probably he's busy. So let's play the clip, which by the way, this one is even though it's in Spanish, but you hear the English translation over it. And the interview was conducted by none other than the famous Latin American journalist Jorge Ramos. To those who do not know. Uh, so let me share the screen with you and we'll, uh, there we go, and we take a listen. And once again, I give credit to Max Blumenthal for this. Take a listen, please.

And then you find out that Orlando Cecilia, your sister Barbara's husband, had been—

oh, by the way, Just before I, I continue on this, I need to give you the background of, of this particular, uh, aspects of it. And this one has to do with the family member of Marco Rubio that was involved in the, the, the, uh, the, uh, drug trafficking. Uh, hold on, let me, let me get to the exact one to make sure. So yeah, it's Rubio's brother-in-law in-law. His name is Orlando Cecilia, stored kilos of cocaine in the bedroom of a house where Marco Rubio lived. Cecilia was one of the top drug traffickers in South Florida and was sentenced to 35 years in prison for distributing $15 million worth of cocaine. After Cecilia's early release from prison, In 2000, Marco Rubio used his influence as majority whip of Florida's House of Representatives to help his brother-in-law obtain a real estate license. That shows you how far the corruption goes. So let's continue with, uh, listening to the interview.

Arrested and charged with some drug-related crime, as you describe in the book. And then your brother-in-law would be sentenced to 25 years in prison. That's exactly what we said on Univision. I understand that this upset you and your family. I completely understand. The question is, as journalists and voters, do they not have the right to know what kind of relationship you had with someone linked to drug trafficking? The story was about me. They should have contacted me first. You were 16 years old. Let me finish. But you go beyond that. Later, on the front page of Univision's national news. I understand you weren't on the air that night, but Univision National put the story on the front page, which wasn't about me at all. It was the personal story of two private citizens who have absolutely nothing to do with politics. But connected to you. So they could have asked me. It said that you could become vice president. And these kinds of connections had to be discussed. But Jorge, no, with the press, that's public record. And Univision calls me, asks, look, we understand this happened in your family. How did it affect you? I would have gladly answered. You say he had no influence on you at that time, meaning he didn't help you financially. I'm asking you if Orlando, your brother-in-law, helped you financially when you were 16 years old. Well, he was my brother-in-law. I was 16 years old. As I mentioned in the book, I used to wash his dogs at his house. I'm sure they gave me gifts.

Okay, I'm gonna stop it right there. And just to give you an idea why, because Marco Rubio was the one that is now pushing for the war against Maduro, or the removal of Maduro. And as a matter of fact, the same for Colombia, uh, uh, Petro. That's, that's the idea. So you need to understand the background to make more sense to you. So, so to go back to my point about the, the pressure points the Trump administration is using, of course we talked about using the pretext of the drug cartels and so forth, but when Donald Trump called Maduro, the hope was that for Trump Maduro will accept. Well, Trump will be— is naive to think that Maduro is going to say, yes sir, because you called, I am going to accept your offer. Forget about it. And that's exactly what happened. So here is, uh, what I'm going to share with you, the, the clip here of what, uh, Maduro said, uh, after the call. And I'll provide you the, uh, the translation for it. The clip, why, by the way, I get it from Al Jazeera. That's where I get the clip from. So let's take a listen here. So, okay, um, yes, peace forever, forever, forever. Yes, we want peace, but we want a peace with sovereignty. Okay, with equality, with liberty. Not a piece of slaves or piece of colonialism, or, uh, yeah, colonialism.

Colonia!

We do not want a piece of colonialism. Colonials! No piece of slave!

Libertad!

We want, we want liberty! República! For our republic! Paz con dignidad! With dignity! That's a traditional dance in Venezuela. So, okay, now the reason I shared this one is to put things in perspective for you. So, and this becomes also with the risk assessments of the United States, you know, uh, when you look at the intensifying US threats now are raising some sort of expectations of an imminent military action, but it's just posturing at this point. So, and this because if the US moves forward, it will be placing the US in an inexorable path towards military confrontation. So, and the problem is, is that the US has no strategy in place. So, so when you think about the buildup and the threats are just part of psychological pressure campaign. It's what we call psyops. So it's this to force Maduro to step down or encourage regime change rather than the actual military intervention. And why is this important to understand? It's because the complicating factors that exist within this dimensions or this landscape. So any serious, any serious land invasion of Venezuela would be extremely complex, and this has to do with many factors. For example, the country size. Venezuela, it's not Panama. You think about the rugged terrain, you get— you think about the Amazon jungle. So, and all this, the US forces will face substantial pushback from the pro-regime militia and armed forces. And I have a picture, I think I got a picture for you right here. Those are, they are willing to take up arms, uh, uh, those are in support of the military. Those are the civilian aspects of it. So this is what you're looking at. The idea of why it will be challenging. So, and this is why, uh, the US administration is facing some sort of a mounting controversy now over the legality of the potential actions, uh, the potential actions it already took and the one that it recently took regarding the closure, the closure, uh, the closure of the airspace, because those are illegal. So the reason The US has not even provided evidence-based and legally detailed nationals for military strikes. So there is no evidence for that. It's just Donald Trump's word. Are we gonna take Donald Trump's as his word? So the confrontation between Venezuela and the US appears to be now at a really critical juncture. So, and to me, of course, we cannot ignore the volatility of this situation as it is now. And of course, it's going to be now depending on what Trump decides, uh, or authorizes the military to do. They are already covert ops, nobody's denying this, but we're talking about ground, uh, boots on the ground. And the second question that I need to ask, which I share with you as a geopolitical analyst, is that Will Venezuela become another Vietnam for the US if the latter invades? You all know how it ends up, uh, uh, uh, regarding Vietnam. You all know the truth that we never won Vietnam. We all know the truth that it was Vietnam that defeated the US. Venezuela could present the same argument and the same scenario and the same case. Of course, there are differences between Vietnam and Venezuela, so, so, but there are enough troubling parallels that the military, even military experts, are warning against making, uh, this, this, uh, or taking these ventures. So, so I'm going to share with you some key differences, uh, just to put it in perspective. Uh, US military in case they decide to go, will face far greater initial tactical advantage. Of course, we do have an advantage. We have so many planes and this and that, but that isn't going to cut it in that terrain. You can have all your F-18s and 35, whatever, flying, ain't gonna cut it. So, and that is why, uh, uh, uh, the American military Yes, it dwarfs Venezuela's in equipment and budgets and, and the amount of aircraft and so forth, you know. But at the same time, this is— will not be enough. There are currently too few, too few troops that exist for the invasion. That's why I'm saying all what we are hearing right now and seeing is posturing. The number of troops we have right now near Venezuela, on the, the amount of naval assets amounts to 10%. That's it. It's a shortfall by a factor of 5 to 20. So let that sink in. So then you have the other issue of the guerrilla problem, which mirrors the Vietnam. In other words, if the US goes in you're going to have to deal— meaning the US will have to deal with the guerrilla warfare. If there is one thing we've learned in the last 20 years is that we couldn't win guerrilla warfare. Look what happened in Iraq, in Mosul. You remember? Look what happened in Afghanistan, Vietnam, uh, Vietnam. Oh, look what happened in Vietnam even back then. Uh, Venezuela is different. The real risk lies in what happens after the initial military sort of, uh, uh, so-called victories, if that ever came to that. Why? Even if the US defeated Venezuela, this could drag and prolong the fight through guerrilla warfare. You could defeat the military, but you're not going to be able to defeat guerrilla then you're going to have to consider— meaning the US has to consider the use of the local militias to make up occupation for that. This is where those, those, uh, sort of groups comes in, and that is very, very important to understand. So because any serious land invasion will face substantial, in my opinion, substantial resistance from the pro-Maduro militia. There's a group known as Colectivos, that's usually they are known for pro-Maduro militia in addition to the military. So then you have the battle-hardened Colombian guerrillas, which based inside Venezuela, by the way, not in Colombia. Who would act as a pro-regime paramilitary force. So you combine both militias from Venezuela and from Colombia. This is why the US want to hit two birds with one stone. One end to deal with Maduro, the second one to deal with Petro, the president of Colombia, which by the way we are sanctioning and all that stuff. So, and if this is not enough, We're gonna have to deal with the geography, the geography, the scale of the terrain complications inside Venezuela. I remember when I went to, uh, uh, La Paz, uh, a few years ago, and, and I tell you, the terrain is incredible. There is no way. Venezuela is more than 12 times larger than Panama. That's one. And has roughly 10 times as many people as Panama did in 1989 when we went in. And with that, you add the jungle, the jungle terrain, the multiple urban centers that exist. That's where the insurgents, uh, uh, uh, will be launched from. So, and this is why a US invasion will face a fractured battle space characterized, in my opinion, by robust asymmetric defenses. So, because you're going to be looking at very heavy-armed militias, yeah, and you're looking at a very— some sort of ideologically indoctrinated hybrid force. We're not willing to deal with this. It's not willing. We never dealt with this before.. And the only way we dealt with it on a small scale was in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we found out the one in Vietnam was a different time frame for that. So, and hypothetically, you go even with the invasion, then you have the post, uh, uh, the post-invasion, uh, of, of what's going to be happening with that. And this is perhaps the most, in my opinion, the most Vietnam-like scenario or aspects. So, and by the way, there were research were conducted on this by some security centers, and studies have shown that efforts to promote democracy after foreign-imposed regime changes rarely succeed. It will be the same in Colombia— in Venezuela. Or Colombia, for that matter. So, so while removing Maduro might be militarily feasible, stabilizing Venezuela afterward could be far harder. That is where the problem will be, as no unified, uh, some sort of opposition exists to govern the country. And you don't want that. You don't want that. Then, of course, becomes the domestic political trap. Unlike Vietnam, this— meaning the US consideration of invasion— faces crucial vulnerability at home. So right here, here is why. It was a poll that was, uh, uh, conducted in— and I'm going to share the link with you— on September of this year, 2025. You know what it showed? 62% of Americans oppose a US invasion of Venezuela, with only 16%, uh, representing opposition that transcends partisan lines. And this is where you have the likes of, uh— and I'm going to share the link with you in the chat box, so This is where you see, uh, uh, and that is one of the problems, uh, that we have too. That's why I wanted to do the updates for you. Now that the picture is becoming more clearer for me, at least I've said it before, maybe I'm wrong, maybe not, that it will be no invasion. It's because we don't have the force for it and we won't be able to sustain it anyway despite it. So what we are good at is posturing. That's why we moved the aircraft carrier, we moved the fighter jets and all that stuff. It's just the same thing we did in Red Sea, you remember? And what did Ansarullah— what did Ansarullah do at that time? They didn't care. They were still firing to the point we had to remove or move the, uh, aircraft carrier Eisenhower at the time away up North. Same scenario here. So of course, I just gave the analogy and the comparison. It's not the same. Venezuela won't be another Vietnam because the initial military mismatch favors the US far more. But even with that, the same argument was made in Vietnam, and look what the outcome was. So the— even with this the occupation and a nation-building phase, so-called, could become Vietnam-like, not only in cost and intractability, but also in prolonging the conflict. So, because what you're going to have at the end is you're going to have a conflict that starts with an overwhelming military superiority, which is true, but ends in a costly stalemate or even a withdrawal. That's exactly what we did in Afghanistan. That's what we did in Iraq. That's what we did in Vietnam. And that's what we did in the Red Sea. That is the way I see it playing out. Liking this video so far? Don't just be a watcher. Go ahead and hit the like, share, and subscribe button. And don't forget to tap the bell so you will not miss any of my videos or live streams. This way you will be supporting a channel that stands for the truth and objective reporting. The choice is yours. Thanks for your support. All right, next question, it would be: what kind of operations should we expect? Special ops, kinetic, which by the way, the kinetic ops the US is already embarking on, ongoing kinetic operations that is already underway. So, and the US has been conducting those kind of strikes on vessels. That's why you saw those, those, uh, uh, uh, vessels being blown up, which by the way, we never produced evidence for that. So in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, as part of so-called Operation Southern Spear. So 21 vessels were struck, so 80 people, uh, for, for killing, uh, 80 alleged smugglers. You know, to me, I need to see evidence, that simple as that. So, and yes, when you have the US is deploying the F-35B, the stealth fighter, the MQ-8 Reaper drones, the P-8, uh, uh, maritime patrol aircraft, the AC-130, you know, all this is nothing but posturing. So, and this is again where you have to think in terms of what does it mean. So, so if we are to think about the possibility of operations, then you move up to the escalated kinetic options, which is, by the way, according to the recent, uh, Pentagon meeting Those are under consideration. And this— what I mean by this is a full-scale kinetic operation could involve a massive barrage of missiles and strikes by stealth aircraft. Only when you find out that China has warned the Americans, and I'm going to get into that as I move forward here. So, so all this will be supported by stealth aircraft, as I mentioned, and you have the electronic warfare, or the SEAGUNS. That's part of, of, of this military. Then you have the special operation missions and the clandestine operations from inside the country. And all this aimed at taking down the Venezuelan air defense systems. It's the same scenario that happened to Iran, because Iran had the, the, the double agents within Tehran, those provided the locations and the logistics and so forth. You will do the same here. So, and this is why the US has intensified some sort of land targets, including the ports and the airstrips, uh, that the Venezuelan military allegedly uses for drug trafficking. So, and once again, to me, if you don't have evidence, then we can't be just throwing the words Oh, he's a drug dealer, whatever, till you have evidence for that. The one that I'm more interested in, it has to do with the special ops, so, and the COVID components. And the special ops, I'm not talking about just the CIA. Of course, the, the agency will be operating, and it's already has been operating there and so forth. I'm talking about JSOC, okay? And when you think about the covert operations likely to be the first part of any new action against Maduro. To me, that will be— that gives me a yardstick by which I measure how serious the US is committed to getting in inside Venezuela with troops on the ground, because the COVID ops always precede the— it's like what happened in Iraq. With the invasion of Iraq. So, so, and that's why Trump has authorized the agency, uh, to conduct operations inside Venezuela. So, so the military collection that includes the special ops mothership, that is where it positioned the rapid deployment, as it's known. So this is part of where— then, then you have the psyops, or psychological pressure operations. So what the White House is doing right now is exploring a plan, and that plan is to use military planes to drop leaflets over Caracas to pressure Maduro. Remember, the way we did it in Panama was we spread the word about, you know, people in Panama, Panamanians, are going hungry, that the system, the socialist system, is starving the people. That was all by design, by the way. Then you have the other element, which what we are witnessing right now, and this one has to do with force posturing. So when Donald Trump authorized the Pentagon to use military force against select Latin American drug cartels, and the Pentagon has formed some sort of a new joint Task Force, which was— which is led by the Marines from Camp Lejeune. And the purpose of that is to oversee the anti-drug operations in the region. But okay, if it is the case, how come the media or the White House not disclosing, uh, about Marco Rubio? So because it's Marco Rubio that is pushing, uh, for the war also behind closed doors. So you have the US aircraft carrier Gerald Ford. The carrier strike group is now deployed within about— with, with about 15,000, 10,000 to 15,000 US personnel in the region. But there is one element that I need you to understand, and that element is the constraint. What will be constraining this? Like I said earlier, while the military, US military firepower is overwhelming, if you listen to what former, even some current government officials are saying, the deployed assets is insufficient for a full invasion. I disclosed this to you about a month ago when I said we are looking only at about 10% They are confirming now, those, those current and former US government officials. And this, in my opinion, it suggests that the operations will likely remain limited in scope. Basically special ops, raids, strikes on key facilities, the pressure campaigns, things like that. But you won't see a full occupation troops on the ground. So a broader invasion would require significantly more troops to be deployed into Venezuela or the border near Venezuela. I mentioned earlier, because when you consider, and I give credit of this picture to Martin Bennett, so this is what you're looking at. The US, uh, uh, uh, assets in, in the Caribbean, closer to the border with Venezuela. I have also another picture, and I give credit to Juan Barreto. This is a, a Russian tank in Venezuela. This is an old tank here, for— but the, the Venezuelans still using those. So I mentioned earlier China. Which, by the way, no media here in the US is addressing this. So you think about why China is— China is warning the US about Venezuela. So, so, as a matter of fact, it's not just one warning. China has issued multiple warnings to the US regarding military actions against Venezuela. So I'm gonna share with you the two or three platforms on which China has expressed and warned the Americans. First, we start with the diplomatic warning. China had a direct diplomatic warning. Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the US military buildup off Venezuela's coast. And this is where you had the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, stating, and I quote, China opposes any move that violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and e-country and the country's sovereignty and security, end of quote. They also added, and I quote, and opposing the use or threat of force in international relations and the interference of external forces in Venezuela's internal affairs under any pretext. End of quote. Why is this important? Like I said, I'm going to be doing for you, for our community, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, I'm going to be providing you an analysis about what is really going on between Israel and China. This has to do part of it, and I'll explain when I— in due time. The second platform on which the Chinese warned the Americans, it has to do with high-level presidential support. What do I mean by this? The Chinese president, President Xi Jinping, sent a congratulatory— congratulatory, I'm sorry— letter to Maduro. Pledging continued support for Venezuela's sovereignty and the US military. The timing of it— this is what the, the presidential support— and describing China and Venezuela as, and I put this in quote, intimate friends, dear brothers, and good partners, end of quote. China also is vowing to keep supporting Caracas in safeguarding its sovereignty and national security. The third platform has to do with the UN Security Council, the UN Security Council intervention. And here is what happened. Once again, uh, uh, I don't think so The media, you know, I'm not judging here. All I'm telling you is when you read or watch whatever, always keep your options. What I mean by this is you have to understand the full picture, because during an emergency UN Security Council meeting, China's diplomat rejected those threats or use of force in international relations and urged Washington to heed international calls for peace and stability in the region. And the last platform was the repeated formal protests. And all this China's doing this. Did we— I don't ask any Americans if they ever hear about China warning Americans, and they tell you, we don't know. So, oh, those are sirens. I don't know why they're running sirens here, but anyway, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian criticized the US deployment, stating the action seriously undermined peace and security of the region and seriously violates international law, in quote. So, and that is why China is urging the US to do more things conducive to peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region. So now you have to think about the strategic vision for China doing this. Why? Is because by doing this, China is positioning itself, and this positioning in itself reflects China's strategic interests in Venezuela. Remember, Venezuela is an OPEC member, produces a lot of oil, and China imports a large quantity of oil from Venezuela. So, and that's when you consider for China's strategic interest that include, uh, oil imports, the debt holding, and of course it's a broader geopolitical stance against US interventionism in the Western Hemisphere. And that is why you're seeing the visit of Mr. Wang Yi to Moscow yesterday. So you have to put this in perspective, and that's what's important about understanding the development of this dynamics. You know, of course the media is going to be talking about, oh, the US is deploying the aircraft carrier. Yeah, all is well. But you know, what is really the big picture of all all this. And that's exactly what I try to do in these live streams and analyses that I share with you, because I wanted to provide you a much bigger picture. As I said, all I was gonna do in this one here, it provides you an update, uh, and I'm gonna take any question, a question or two if you have one here before I, I close this up, because that's all I have to share with you. Usually if I don't have anything else to say I, I sign off. That's just my nature. If you don't have anything of substance, stop talking. So that's the way I look at it. So, uh, once again, I wanna, uh, Ramples01, I wanna say thank you for, uh, for, uh, sending me that comment regarding that individual. So I appreciate you for that. Uh, and, and again, you guys keep an eye open. We are on this together. You know, I can't do everything by myself. So, so, Ali, Ali, I, I agree with you. You know, you think a lot of bluff Trump now. Yeah, it's more of bluffing than anything else. So, uh, you know, and, and again, when you think about the terrain, uh, uh, the, the terrain in Venezuela and Colombia, the borders, the, uh, the Darién Gap and, and all those are not forgiving terrains. And, and yeah, we have special ops training, whatever, but it's not going to cut it. And again, I'm talking based on experience. Even if you deploy Delta, you know, usually SEAL Team, uh, it's no comparison to Delta. A lot of people do not know this, uh, that they think, oh, the SEAL Team is— no, the SEAL Team has been given publicity, no more, no less. You don't hear much about Delta. Delta staying quiet, and they are highly trained than the, the SEAL teams. So, all right, that's all I have to share. I want to say, oh, thank you once again, FU. Much appreciate your continued support and your generosity. So I just want you to know how grateful I am. I don't take it for granted. And I thank the whole community, to whomever is able to, uh, support the channel. I'm very, very grateful to you. Please do not go out of your way to do so. I, I do not— I never liked this stuff. If, if you can, if you can do it, then you, you support the channel. If you can't, I understand. So, so here is the link if you want to support the channel, and I'm gonna put it in the chat box. If you want to buy me coffee, uh, feel free to do so. And, uh, right there, I put it in chat. Chat box for you. As I, uh, I'm going to be working again, as I told you, this week, this entire week, I'll be providing you analysis on different topics. Uh, tomorrow I'm— I think I am waiting this afternoon for one specific info, uh, and if I receive that info, I will do the specific topic about Israel and China. So something you want to know, uh, I might do it tomorrow. If not, I'll wait till, most likely Friday, maybe we'll see. So, so, uh, uh, F you once again, thank you so much for your generosity and your support. Really appreciate you for that. Uh, let me take a look one more time to see if there are any, uh, questions from you, if I missed any. Hopefully I didn't. Uh, and if I don't have any, then, uh, if I don't have any, then I will sign off. Uh, uh, oh, J, J, J, you know, Narco Rubio, devout evangelical Christians. Yeah, but again, if you are this, this, this devout, why would you call for war? You know, a man of religion, in my opinion, you know, shouldn't be calling for wars and all that stuff. So, but thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing that. Uh, yeah, I was this, this disturbed by that. I'm gonna post, by the way, if I still— yeah, I have it. I'm gonna post that link to that interview for you, and you can, uh, check it out yourself later on. And again, I give credit for that to Max Blumenthal, uh, whom I extended an invitation. I hope he can make it here if his schedule permits. So So it will be nice to have a conversation with him. Uh, Max spent a lot of time in Latin America, so I'm very familiar with his, uh, sort of, uh, movements back then. So, all right, let me see one more thing. I'm just looking to see if there's any question from you, but if not, I'm gonna sign off here. So And again, I'll be working on the, uh, uh, I'll be working on the other topics for you. Uh, then, then we'll, uh, this why I want you to end the year with the— okay, I see one from Ripples on One. Here we go. Uh, I want you to have enough information and enough knowledge for you to see where things are headed. Uh, Dr. O, can Trump face an international court for crimes against humanity? Uh, some senators are accusing him. Also, Judge Napolitano said it. Uh, I, I don't know. I'm not a legal— I'm not a legal scholar. I won't be able to answer this. But on the other hand, if you compare to what the US is doing, for example, in Gaza, if you are— if you— the way that I know it, if you support any crime then you are party to that crime. So in that case, but again, we are not a signatory to ICC anyway. That's why we never been part of it. So for this reason, so no. But again, the— I think the law should apply to everybody. I don't care who you are. But when I'm gonna, you know, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I'll be honest, I do not know. Legally speaking. And I might get you— I might get you an answer. I'll ask someone I know in the legal field and, and get you an answer to that. But what the US is doing, it's— yes, uh, uh, Shelly, uh, I don't know how much can Starlink give an advantage. I, I have no idea. All I know now is that China is capable of shutting down Starlinks, that I know for a fact. So this is more of a technical question, so, and I, I don't have enough, uh, I don't have enough background in this particular field. It's not mine. So, uh, let me see one more question if there is one here, and if not, I'm going to sign off and we'll see you most likely tomorrow. Uh, I saw something, Farhad Razavi. I saw this one, and I know you probably responded to someone else, and you're right about this, Farhad. I did see this morning the Russian president's warning to Europe. Europe almost feels like it wants to have a war with Russia, and it will be wiped out, literally. They better get it together. So I, I hope I hope some cool heads will prevail before it's too late. So it's all I can say about, you know, I don't quite understand, uh, uh, this one here, uh, which US oil refinery corporations own the heavy oil refinery? Uh, you mean here in Venezuela? Because there are some Shell companies, there were some American companies, believe it or not, were operating in Venezuela.

Venezuela.

But that was a few, few years ago, to my knowledge. I know in Iraq, ExxonMobil wants to get the, uh, rights to, to drilling in northern Iraq, and Iraq said no. They gave that right to China. So, so that's, that's usually, uh, that's usually, to my knowledge, what it is. All right, I'm gonna sign off here. I hope you enjoyed listening to what I have to share with you about these updates regarding Venezuela. And again, I'll be working on the next topics for you. And as always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, bye-bye.